Fasteneb fob gabments and otheb abticles



March 5, 1929. c. L. SANFORD FASTENER FOR GARMENTS AND OTHER ARTICLES Filed June 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR. L, San/0rd TTORNE Y.

March 5, 1929. c, SA hb 1,704,579

FASTENER FOR GARMENTS AND OTHER ARTICLES Filed June 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet,

- as a stop for the slide.

Patented Mar. 5, 1929.

UNITED" STATES CHARLES L. SANFORD, 01 MEAI JVILIlE, PENNSYLVANIA.

FASTENER FOR GARMENTS AND OTHER'ABTICLES.

Application filed June 7,

This invention relates to the use of so? called slider fasteners wherein two interlocking series of hook1ne1nbers arepermanently attached to two adjacent parts and operated by a slide either to interlock or separate the two sets of members to thus fasten the two parts together,and particularly relates to the application of such a slider fastener to garments.

These slider fasteners have been used for the purpose of ,detachably engaging the uppers of galoshes, the meeting margins oftobacco pouches, etc., but never in my knowledge have they been used for holding together Waistcoats, coats, jackets, sweaters or articles of this kind wherein the article is open throughout its entire extent as distinguished from being open to a certain degree and having the margins of the article joined at one point.

One of the principal objects of the present invention, therefore, is to provide "means whereby the fastener may be used inconnec device which is of such constructionthat it may be easily disunited or opened when de siredbut which, when joined, will securely hold the garment together at one point and act A still further object is to mount the separable elements of the fastener upon tapes, and provide a stopand separable locking device which will securely hold the ends of the ta e together in their respective positions when t e sliding locking device is to be used, and in this connection to provide a stop and locking de-' vice which cannot be opened when the locking slider has been moved along the locking elements away from the stop.

Another objectv is, to provide a combination stop and locking device which does not depend'on any spring :or other delicate part which by weakeningmight soon deprive the fastener of its full efliciency.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description. I My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a view showing my improvement applied to character; 7 j j j Figure 2 is a front view of the upper portion of the tapes whichforrn the margin at the a waistcoat or garment oflike 1927. Serial N0. 197,081.

opening of the waistcoat, showing the'lock- 'ing device applied'thereto;

Figure 3 isa fragmentary front elevation of the left hand margin of the garmentshowing the slide in the position it occupies when the locking devices are released;

Figure 4 is a fragmentaryelevation'of the right hand margin of the garment with the locking device released; 7

I Flgure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 2;

ure 3;

F igure 7jis Figure 6 is a section on theline 66 of Fig- Figure 8 is a fragmentary elevation of a portion of the garment showing the interlock- Y ing members .12 in section;

Figure 9 isa cross sectional view through a portion of the tape and the interlocking members;

natetwo lateralmargins ofa garment, for

Figure 10 is a face view of the structure instance, designed to be connected to each other. It may be assumed that these parts A and B are the lateral margins of a vestor waistcoat andthat the fasteners are designed to'be used for the purpose of fasteningthi s garment. Attached to the garment in" any suitable manner-are tapes 10, theftapes being attachedto'the respective margins of the garment, and each tape is formedat its inner U edge'with a cord or bead 11. 'Clamp ed' over these cords, as shown in'Figure 2, are a plurality of fastener members 12*suchias commonly found in these fasteners. Each of these fastener members at its extremity whichextends beyond the cord is formed with a head, the upper. surface of the head being depressed,"asat 13, the under face of thehead being formed with a slight protuberance 14. The fastener members 12 on one cord are disposed in staggered or alternate relation to the fastening members on the other'side so that the fastening members interdigitate" and the bill 14 of-one fastener member. will enter the corresponding'recess of the otherfastener I member whenthe two sets offast'ener m'emhers are brought into interdigitating relationp' The lower end of the garment has thetwo margins unattached to each other, but it is the garment shall be detachably engaged with each other at the other end of the art1cle in order to permit the proper operation of the slide which engages the fastener members with each other and holds them in their engagement or, when moved in the other direction, disengages these fastener members. To thisend, I provide two interlocking members 15 and 16. The member 15 consists of a plate of thin metal which is riveted or otherwise attached to the margin of the garment adjacent the upper end thereof and projects slightly beyond-the margin of the garment. This interlocking member is pressed into shape and is formed to provide an annular outstanding wall 17 which is turned over at its outer end so as to fo rmtwo inwardly sloping flanges 18 disposed within the wall 17, these flanges being separated in two places to form passageways l9 for the reception of complementary locking member-s20 shown in Figures 5 and 7 The interlocking member 16 which is complementary to the member 17 and coacts therewith is also formed of a flat plate pressed up to provide a circular caplike member 21. The side walls-of this caplike member extend inward and are slotted at diametrically opposite points, as at .22. These slots extend inward onto the outside face of the cap and extend down to the end of the wall of the cap 21 and the tongues left by slotting the cap as described are bent'inward, as at 23, and then outwardly bent to form the opposed looking lugs 20, shown best in Figure 5. These lockingtongues 20 are of such width that when the cap 21is inserted over the wall 17 of the complementary lockingmember15, thelocking members 21 will pass down through the passageways 19 until the top of the capv 21 of member 16 strikes the top of the wall 17. Then by a turn to the left of the member 16, the lugs 20 will pass under .the lower edges of the inwardly sloping flanges 18 and thus the member 16'will b locked to the member 15. I

It will be seen from Figure at that the mem- -ber,16 must be turned out of its normal position so as to align the locking lugs 20with the openings 19, and that when the cap 21 of the member 16 is released, the tension exerted upon-the fabric will tend to turn the locking member 16 in a direction to cause these lugs 20 to pass beyond the openings 19 and thus lock the two margins of the garment to each other.

Coacting with the interdigitatable locking 7 members 12 is the slide 2 twhich is of. the

form ordinarily. found in these fasteners. This slide'has the inwardly turned flanges 25 on each side which extend over the butt ends of the two sets of fastening members 12. The lower end of the slide is expanded or has these flanges disposed in divergent relation and the outer face of the slide is provided with a'loop '26 whereby the slide may be manipulated. Vhen this slide is pulled downward or in the direction of the arrow in Figure 2, it will cause the locking members 12to engage with each other in the manner well known inthe art and the slide is pulled down to the extreme lower end of these locking membersand then is stopped by the stop members 27 (see Figures 9 and 10) which are clamped over the cords 10 and 11 in the usual manner. When the stop is pulled up, assuming that the two members 15 and 16 of thelocking device are engaged with each other, these two members will constitute a stop and'the slide 24 can only be shifted upward to this stop. a

Inasmuch as the slide 2a is provided with the two inwardly extending flanges 25 which engage over the outer ends of the locking members 12, it is'necess'ary toprovide some means whereby one margin of the article can be detached from the slide but the slide left in engagement with the other margin of the article. To this end, I omit the last four lockingmembers 12 and the cord 11 on one margin of the article as, for instance, immediately beneath the member 16 but retainthese locking members and cord on the opposite margin A of the article beneath the member 15 and I reinforce this margin B by a thin metallic plate 28 which is'insertible between the inner edges of the flanges 25.

Thus it will be seen that after the slide 2 1 is pulled upward to the upper end of the article so that it overlies the plate 28, the margin B can be shifted out from between the jaws or flanges 25 of the slide and the margin B be flexed so as to turn thecap 24- with 'reference to the wall 17 and bring the locking lugs 20 in correspondence with the slots 19 to'permit the detachment of the member 16 from the member 15. Th s will open the garment from top to bottom but the slide 2 1 will bevengaged with the four uppermost memhere 12 and with the cord in the same manner as before so that the slide cannot become detached. hen it isdesired to re-fasten the garment, themargins A-and B of the garment are flexed so that the locking lugs may interlocked 'members'15 and 16, the lockingv members 12 are locked together, thus preventing thermember '16 from being turned back to the right or relative to the member 15 and this makes itimpossiblefor the memhere 15 and 16-to becomedisengaged; This feature is of utmost importance, as the locking members 12 mightbe pulled apart if the members 15 and 16 could become detached from each other. In such an event, the stops 2'? would have to be renmvedand the slide 24 passed oil of that end and started on again at the opposite end where the locking.

members 14c have been pulled apart. he slide 24: will close the locking members 12 together in locking relation as it moves in one direction but will not do so whenmovedin the opposite direction due to the shape of the slide. The slide 24- opcns the locking members as it passes in one way and closes them as it passes in. the opposite direction.

It is easy to see that by placing the locking member 16 over the locking member 15 and turning the locking member 16 to the left, the strip 28 on the tape 10 of margin B will come within the jaws .or flanges on that side of the slideQaland there is nothing more to do than to move the slide 524; alon the fasten ing device 12 in order to fasten up a garment or other article to which the fastener has been attached for use.

..t will be seen that with this'invention it is possible to use a slider fastener of the kind commonly found on galoshes, tobacco pouches and other articles, upon a waist-l coat, coat or other article of apparel, or upon any article wheretwo margins are to be engaged with each other but entirely released from such engagement and separated when desired. 'lVhile I have heretofore referred to this mechanism as being applied to a gar-' ment, I do not wish to be limited to this ascause the automatic locking of the two lock- .ing members.

While I have illustrated a construction wherein this automatic locking occurs by virtue ot the bias of the two margins of the garment to return to their parallel position, I do not wish to be limited to this as undersome circiunstances the, two members may be positively turned relative to each other to unlock or disengage the two members. \Vhile I have iilustrated the retention of a number of the fastening members 12 on the margin for the purpose of retaining the slide in engage ment with said margin when the slide has been shifted to position against the combined stop and interlocking member, I do not wish to be limited to the use of the locking members 12 forthis purpose as it is obvious that other means might be the slide-inthis position.

I claim i 1'. An article having normally abutting marginal portions separable from each other along their entire length and fastening means therefor including interengaging locking members and a slide engaging there *ith, the slide at one end of its path of travel being disprovided to retain engageable trom the locking members on one margin to permit the margins to be separated, and means located adjacent this end of the path of travel of the slide for detachably engaging the margins oi the article with each other and constituting a stop preventing the slide from traveling off of the locking members, said means comprising interengaging male and female members, the female member havin a circular. outstanding wall turned over at the outer end to provide an inwardly sloping flange cut away at diametrically'opposite points to form passageways, the male member having two locking portions adapted to be inserted in said passageways and turnedto carry the locking portions out of alignment with the passage-ways.

2. An article having normally abutting marginal portions'separable from each other along their entire length, fasteningmeans therefor including interengaging locking members and a slide engaging therewith, the slide at one end of its path of travelbeing disengageable from the locking members on one margin to permit the margins to be separated, and means located adjacent this end of the path of travel of the slide for detachably engaging the margins of thearticle with each other and constituting a stop preventing the slide from traveling off of the locking members, said means comprising interengaging male and female members, the female member having a circular outstanding Wall turned over at the outer end to provide an inwardly sloping flange cutaway at diametrically opposite points to form passageways, the male member having two locking portions adapted to be inserted in said passageways and turned to carry the locking portions out of alignment with the passageways, said male member having a circular cap which passes over and around the circular wall of the female member.

3. An article having normally abutting marginal portions separable from each other along their entire length, fastening means therefor including interengaging locking members and a slide engaging therewith, the

slide at one end of its path of travel being I disengageahle from the locking members on one marginto permit the margins to be separated, and means located'adjacent this end of the path of travel of the slide for detachably engaging, the margins of the article with each other and constituting a stop preventing the slide from traveling oil of the locking members, said means comprising interengaging posite points to form passageways, the male member having a circular capincluding a circular wall which passes over and around the circular wall of the female member, the

, circular cap and wall being cut out at diametrically; opposite points to form inwardly sloping lugs whose inner ends are bent laterally outward parallel to the plane of the cap for engagement with the inwardly sloping flange of the female member.

4. A locking device of the character described comprising a female member and a male member, the female member havinga base and an annular wall formed to provide an inwardly and centrally extending flange cut away at diametrically opposite points to form passageways, a coacting male member having a base and a circular cap-like portion formed with a circular wall connecting the cap-like portion with the base and adapted to pass over and around the wall of the female member, the male member being cut out at opposite points to form inwardly and cent ally sloping-lugs angularly bent at their extremities, the lugs. being insertible through the openings in the flange of the female member and the angularly bent portions engaging with the lower edge of said flange when the male member is rotated relative to the female member.

5. An article having normally edge-abutting marginal portions separated from each other along their entire length, fastening means therefor including interengaging look ing members and a slide engageable therewith, the slide atone end of its path of travel being disengageable from the locking members on one margin of the article to permit the margins to be separated, and means located adjacent this end of the path of travel of the slide for detachably engaging the margins of the article to each other, said means comprising coacting members, one having an annular flange defining a central opening and having a radially extending gap in said flange, the other having a portion adapted to be inserted into said opening, said portion having a radial projection adapted in one position to pass through the gap in the-flange and then by rotation engage beneath the flange, said members being so disposed upon the marginal portions and in such relation to each other that the projection is normally at an angle different from the angle of the gap whereby the members are engaged with each other when the margins of the article are in parallel relation but disengageable Whenthe margins of the article are disposed at a predetermined angle toeach other.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

CHARLES L. SANFORD. 

